MIT scientists invent wide angle transparent display

MIT scientists say that they have dramatically improved upon head's up displays by integrating them into a nanoparticle film overlaying glass as opposed to "beaming" images toward the eyes of a single viewer.

Yesterday, the university announced that a paper outlining the approach had been published in the journal Nature Communications. The scientists say that their approach differs because of it's ease of manufacture, and potentially low cost and scalability. Other wide angle displays like OLEDs embed directly into glass, which MIT says makes manufacturing them more expensive, more complex, and somewhat less transparent.

MIT's paper outlined a proof of concept, but the researchers envision applying nanoparticles to plastic film. The film scatters only specific colors of light that are projected onto it. Other wavelengths pass right through.

“The glass will look almost perfectly transparent, because most light is not of that precise wavelength,” the team leader said. That property keeps the film transparent while allowing a single color to display.